"Oh! Have you met Thunder Lane?"
Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes slightly at this question. It wasn't because Rarity should have known that she'd met Thunder Lane. She had dealt with him quite a bit when she was helping Rainbow Dash with the heavy task of supplying Cloudsdale with the water it needed from the local pond. To be fair, Rarity wasn't involved in that business, but even so, she been there with the others in Cloudsdale when they'd gone to visit Rainbow at Wonderbolt Academy and nearly been torn to shreds by an errant tornado. Anypony who had paid even the slightest bit of attention would have noticed the goo-goo eyes she was giving him after he saved her.
"Whatever was that expression for, kitten?" Rarity asked, tilting her head. Of course she had noticed. It was probably pretty silly of Twilight to believe that any detail would escape her careful eye. That was one of the things that made her such a wonderful dressmaker. And a wonderful everything else, really. Everything about being with Rarity had been so deeply, joyfully fantastic over the last six months (six months, one week, four days, three hours, and seventeen minutes, to be precise, according to Twilight's notes). Her generosity, her beauty, her devotion to making Twilight as happy as she made her...everything added up to make the total package that was Rarity, and she absolutely loved every bit of her. So why was this little thing bothering her?
"Kitten?" Rarity repeated. Twilight blinked. She'd gotten lost in her thoughts again. She looked up into those big azure eyes and fought the urge to get lost in them; a difficult battle, but one that she managed to win with some willpower.
"Sorry, Rarity..." Twilight said, her ears drooping slightly. "I guess I was just surprised by how many ponies you've dated." She then blushed and quickly added, "N-not that it's a bad thing..." The last thing she wanted to do was make it sound like she was insulting Rarity's integrity. Rarity tilted her head, but then gave a dismissive wave.
"Oh darling, I understand completely," Rarity said, seasoning the sentence with a number of soft chuckles. She lifted a hoof and booped Twilight on the nose. "You know that you are more important to me than all of my exes combined." Twilight gave the hoof a quick peck before it was fully withdrawn, almost instinctually. It tasted lightly of Rarity's favorite soap, a flavor she'd become very accustomed to in the last six months, one week, four days, three hours, and...eighteen minutes. It touched her heart how understanding her marefriend was, even when she'd said something as questionable as her previous statement.
"But enough of my past romantic excursions," Rarity said, smiling to the only pony whose lips she would allow on her hooves, especially so soon after a hooficure. "Surely a lovely pony such as yourself must have had a pony or two pining over her before moi came along and stole her heart?" Twilight's smile held strong for a moment before faltering. Why did she not see this coming? Of COURSE Rarity was going to ask about her past partners when Twilight had been asking about hers. Why hadn't she thought of an exit strategy? This was the kind of thing she typically planned for, and it was a boneheaded move to just completely...
"Kitten?" Rarity interjected. "You're doing it again, darling." Twilight's cheeks colored, and Rarity's eyes softened. "Don't tell me you haven't had a coltfriend or marefriend before myself, Twilight, for I would find that quite hard to believe."
"N-no..." The words slipped out before Twilight could act fast enough to stop them. Rarity smiled a cute little smile.
"Well?" the fashionista said, tracing a hoof along Twilight's mane. "Do tell!" Twilight closed her eyes, enjoying her mane being stroked, but could not enjoy the feeling for long as a sense of dread overcame her. Sure, Rarity had told her of her past colt- and marefriends, but her only previous marefriend was a different case altogether. None of Rarity's exes evoked the kind of visceral reaction that Twilight's would likely evoke in Rarity, but there really was no going back at this point.
"Um...just one..." Twilight said weakly. "It's not a big deal." She smiled awkwardly, hoping beyond hope that this little bit of talk would be enough to satiate Rarity's interest in the topic. She knew very well, however, that this would not be the case, and Rarity's raised brow and bemused smirk only accentuated this fact.
"Oh come now," Rarity said. "You know quite well that you can tell me anything..." Twilight gulped as she felt Rarity's hoof drift up her cheek and begin to stroke her ear. Rarity knew her weaknesses as well as her strengths, and she seemed to have no qualms about exploiting them when necessary. Twilight's eyelids lulled shut as her ear was played with and Rarity continued. "Please, Sparkle Kitten." Twilight sighed heavily; there was no way that she could say no under this gentle onslaught.
"Promise you won't get mad?" Twilight managed to ask through the ear-stroking. Rarity chuckled lightly to herself. Of course the ear-stroking would work. It always did. She shifted her hoof back to Twilight's cheek, gently turning her so they were eye-to-eye.
"Twilight, darling," Rarity said, a bit of a bemused undertone to her voice. "It would be incredibly rude of me to be angry at you over your one ex when I have just finished giving you a list of mine."
"This is different, though," Twilight said quietly. "She's...different." Rarity scoffed, giving Twilight the tiny grin that she loved so much.
"How different could she be?" the white unicorn inquired. Before Twilight could answer, there was a knock at the door. Both ponies turned to the library door.
"Were you expecting somepony, kitten?" Rarity asked. Twilight shook her head.
"I can't say that I was," the purple unicorn responded. "And if it was a library patron, I'm sure they would have just walked in...I'll go see who it is." Twilight shifted off of the couch and to her hooves, heading over to the door. Her horn illuminated, and with a quick bit of magic, the door was opened. A burst of fireworks and a fanfare of trumpets were startling enough to knock Twilight onto her rump, as well as attract Rarity's attention. The white unicorn rushed to Twilight's side to help her up and see what all the fuss was about.
"Watch, and be amazed!" the voice burst from the doorway. "For the Great and Powerful Trixie has arrived!" Twilight and Rarity both stared at the blue unicorn standing in front of them for a good few seconds. The silence was finally broken when Twilight turned to Rarity with an awkward smile.
"...Quite different," she said meekly.